A mom who was visiting the website sent me an email about cooking. One of her comments was: "Please don't discount the recipes so easily!"

Since I do play the Mr Mom roll, most of the cooking is by me. I'm also a better cook than my wife anyway. How is it in your house? Who does most of the cooking for the family meals and why? Is it because she works and you're home or is it because you're the better cook? And finally, do we need a recipes page on this website?

I do all the cooking unless my wife makes enchiladas. That is about the only thing she can make. I love to cook. One of my favorite recipes is home made mac and cheese. Since it is somewhat fattening I only make it once/month. I have lots of desserts that I love to make.

I think the recipe page should be divided up in different categories: Desserts, dinners, lunches, salads or whatever.

I am by no means a gourmet chef nor do I want to be. I cook pretty basic but at times I do love to cook a four course meal.

I cook most of the meals, but barring things like cookies, cakes, and pies, my wife is by far the best cook. When she does cook, she "cooks in self defense." This kids think my cooking is fine because they've grown up on it. Oddly enough, though, it leads to some unusual, but healthy, food choices. My children view raw vegetables as desserts ... even though there's a continuous supply in the 'fridge. A few weeks ago we were in a checkout line and the boys were chattering in celebratory tones over a treat we got. The clerk inquired if I'ld broken down and purchased candy. No, the precious comodity was a five pound sack of carrots.

[ Lest folks get the wrong impression, we're omnivores; raw vegetables are just fun for my kids. And yes, they do get candy, but under limited conditiong. Too much sugar + my middle child = a dangerous study in Brownian motion. ]

Paul,
If I can only get my wife to see it your way! She was deprived of candy as a child and now craves it. So now she thinks that if she let the kids have enough now, they won't want as much when they get older.

But for me its hard to teach my kids to "snack" on vegetables when my wife uses chips or chocolate.

One way that I know makes raw vegtables popular is that the children have always had a free hand at preparing them, and even being inventive with them, AS LONG AS THEY ARE EATEN. This has lead to odd experiments. Some are messy failures ... the whole carrot and scoop of applesauce wrapped burrito style in a romain lettuce leaf, which promptly oozed applesauce all over the place comes to mind. Some are repeated favorites ... hot peppers of most any sort, split, cleaned, and filled with peanut butter remain one of my daughter's favorite desserts.

Another way that the raw vegetables are important to the kids is that they also hold a degree of responsibility for them. If the carrots turn limp and hairy ... then we won't get carrots for several weeks because they "just go to waste." If they don't report the green pepper supply to be low ... well Papa doesn't get any peppers. The same goes for the puffed wheat and puffed rice supply. These are all foods that are freely available that even my 3yo can access with minimal parental intervention. ( The 3yo tears peppers in two with his hands, cleans and washes them, and chows down. ) It's largely _their_ food. In fact, they'll offer to "make carrots" for my wife and I. Meanwhile, my teenager has grown up in this lifestyle and doesn't see what the big fuss is.

BTW, there's a four pound sack of chocolate chips down here in the computer cave. I'm probably going to make a big batch of brownies tonight. The kids each had a cookie treat when we were at a mall this evening, They have candy and treats, but raw vegatables are exciting too, and when their cravings are sated by veggies, they will actually put candy bars aside "for later." More important, they don't seek out other treats because they're full.

I ought to add that in the fall apples get the same treatment. It's handy that all three of my children view apple peels as a treat and will peel an amazing number of apples to maintain the supply. If I want to bake a pie or make sauce, the process starts with "do you want apple peels?" And all I have to do is wait for them to present me with a bowl of apples, peeled, sliced and cored.

Then again, there are a few lost to experimentation. There was the attempt at "apple lolipops" where they speared cored apples with carrots. The apples kept slipping and spinning so it was similar to bobbing for apples without the water. But true to my rules, the apples and the carrots were all eaten.

[ Science hint: In the safety portion of my dry ice presentation, I put half an apple on a slab of dry ice for a few minutes and effectively turn the surface into applesauce. It does a great job of getting the point accross. ]

In our house, I do the cooking Monday through Friday and my wife, suposedly takes over on weekends. I say supposedly because it is often the case where I end up cooking on weekends for a number of reasons:

1) I am a better cook. Sorry, but it's true. (I hate overcooked, leathery meat. If I mention it, I'm in the doghouse, for sure)

2) I love cooking, but most weekdays are put-something-together-quickly days. Thus, I rarely have the luxury of cooking a REAL meal.

3) I am conned into cooking. My wife will say: "I just bought these great looking steaks! Let's grill them!" I am a man. If grilling is involved, it must be done by me or it will get all messed up. (And overcooked...see #1.)

I keep telling myself that I will come up with weekly menus to simplify my life, but it never happens. Every day is a trip to the market to buy dinner materials. Every weekday I feel like a zombie in the store; wandering around with my son trying to figure out something for dinner. ("Gee, what's in a box that I can pop into the oven?!") If we didn't have to eat, life would be easier.

As far as a recipe section for this site, nah, I doubt I would check it. Everything I need can be found at www.allrecipes.com. It's a great resource. They even have links for "quick and easy" meals. Can't beat that! I use them daily.

I love to cook. However, the family has become more and more picky eaters. I just don't get it. My wife has allergies to everything. She can't eat any fresh fruits or vegetables. So, all our veggies are cooked.

I've always done 98% of our cooking. I love to cook. I'm better at it than my wife is. I received excellent training and experience while cooking on a sub in the Navy. And Major Havoc loves to spend time in the kitchen with me, "helping." It's Captain Chaos who loves to eat the most out of all three of our children. She's the one who is going to be the most fun to cook for. She'll try anything, spicy foods twice!

Like most of you, I do the majority of the cooking in my household and always have. My wife cooks too but I enjoy it more and since I'm home more days, I cook. While homeschooling, food preparation has always been an important component of the day so consequently, my kids have all learned to cook. They know how to plan a menu, shop for, cook, and serve a meal. We read ingredient labels and nutritional information too, which steers us away from most prepared items like sauces, canned vegetables, broth, etc. We scratch cook most everthing and bake bread too. I think preparing meals and dining together is an integral part of a healthy family relationship.